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Update from: Tucson Citizen 8-10-02

Man fleeing Mexican police
kills park rangerADAM BOROWITZ
Tucson Citizen
Aug. 10, 2002
A National Park Service park ranger was shot and killed yesterday while pursuing a Mexican national in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
The ranger, who was not identified pending notification of next of kin, was shot by a man who fled Mexico after a run-in with police there, said David Hutson, chief of interpretation and visitor services at Organ Pipe.
The Mexican national also was fired upon and killed, but officials yesterday were uncertain who shot him.
Officials said the incident began in rugged desert just east of Lukeville, a port of entry about 40 miles south of Ajo.
Mexican officials contacted U.S. Customs yesterday afternoon to report two men who fled north out of Mexico into the park, Hutson said. Officials did not know why the men fled Mexico.
Roger Maier, a U.S. Customs spokesman, said officials with his agency and the Immigration and Naturalization Service received the call and notified area authorities.
The ranger, who worked as a law enforcement officer at the park, and three U.S. Border Patrol agents responded to the reports as a Border Patrol helicopter searched for the men, Hutson said.
The helicopter spotted the men's vehicle about a half mile from the border, officials said, and agents arrested one of the men without incident soon after.
Agents in the helicopter spotted the second man a short time later and directed the park ranger to him, Hutson said. The man opened fire on the ranger when he approached him, striking him below his body armor at least once.
Border Patrol agents then helped carry the ranger to a nearby road, said Ryan Scudder, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.
Although an emergency flight from Tucson was arranged, the ranger was pronounced dead while being taken from the scene by ambulance, Hutson said.
The ranger was one of less than a dozen workers at Organ Pipe. The tight-knit crew mourned the loss of one of their own last night.
"With a small overall staff, we're all pretty close here, so you can imagine what it's like," Hutson said.
Organ Pipe was labeled the most dangerous in the national park system, according to a 2001 national survey conducted by the Fraternal Order of Police chapter for park rangers.
The park also has become a bustling corridor for people and drug smugglers from Mexico into the United States during the past decade.
Officials yesterday said the last two months have shown an increase in violence and firepower smugglers are willing to use to get their loads of drugs or people through the park.
Maier said agents working at the park have seen smugglers who wear body armor and carry AK-47 assault rifles.
"It's a dangerous area. Smugglers are taking extreme measures to guard and protect their loads," Maier said.
Last year, authorities intercepted 200,000 migrants and 700,000 pounds of drugs in Organ Pipe. Between five and eight law enforcement rangers typically patrol the 330,000-acre park, which borders Mexico for 31 miles.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument's visitor center will be closed tomorrow, as will all scenic drives with the exception of Ajo Mountain Drive, Hutson said.